Strategic Cost Management

"In a global economy, nothing is more important than knowledge of customers’ wants and of how to satisfy those wants profitably. The fundamental reason for the lost relevance of modern management accounting is the belief that businesses can both plan and control their affairs with accounting information that is compiled for financial reporting purposes. Although better information is needed, better product cost information – even activity-based cost information – will not improve competitiveness or ensure long-term profitability. Instead, companies need activity-based information to better understand how to link work, resource consumption, and customer satisfaction."

H. Thomas Johnson
Retzlaff Professor of Cost Management
Portland State University
Member of the board of advisors of the Journal of Cost Management